All Roads Lead Home Review: Every Detour in This Anthology Circles Back to the Same Front Door

All Roads Lead Home reunites the classic Crazy Horse quartet — Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot, Nils Lofgren and Neil Young — but it does not sound like a band locking in. It sounds like four friends who each brought their own songs and agreed to play on each other’s. The ten tracks run 42 minutes, and the title promises a warm, inevitable homecoming. The music delivers something looser: a collection of individual statements that never quite merge into a single voice.

This is not a record with a thesis. It is a record with a schedule. Molina takes lead vocals on several cuts, Talbot steps forward on others, and Young and Lofgren trade off guitar duties. The result is less a Crazy Horse album than a showcase for the parts that make Crazy Horse work. That has its pleasures. It also has its longueurs.

Rain Sets the Weathered Tone

The record starts with Molina’s “Rain,” a four-minute track that sets the tone for everything that follows. It is unhurried, built on the kind of simple chord changes this group has played for decades. Molina’s voice is not polished, and that is the point. He sings like a man who has been around long enough not to care about polish. The song works because it does not strain. It sits in its own pocket and waits for you to join it.

“You Will Never Know” follows, and it is one of the few moments where the quartet sounds like a single organism. The guitars lock in, the rhythm section settles, and the melody carries a genuine ache. It is the closest thing here to a classic Crazy Horse ballad, and it earns its place early in the running order.

Song of the Seasons Tests Patience

“It’s Magical” is pleasant but slight, a three-and-a-half-minute sketch that does not quite become a song. It is the first sign that the album is willing to coast. Then comes “Song of the Seasons,” the longest track on the record at seven and a half minutes. This is where the album either grabs you or loses you. The song unfolds slowly, with Young’s guitar doing most of the talking. It has the rambling, meditative quality of his recent work, and it rewards patience. It also tests it.

1. “Rain” — a sturdy opener
2. “You Will Never Know” — the first real peak
3. “It’s Magical” — pleasant but slight
4. “Song of the Seasons” — the long centerpiece
5. “Cherish” — gentle, but forgettable
6. “Fill My Cup” — the weakest stretch of the record
7. “Look Through the Eyes of Your Heart” — a standout
8. “The Hunter” — a slow burn with a sharp edge
9. “Go With Me” — a quiet breather that drifts
10. “Just for You” — a warm, unassuming closer

Cherish and Fill My Cup Drift

“Cherish” and “Fill My Cup” arrive back to back, and together they form the soft underbelly of the album. Neither is bad. Neither is memorable. They pass by like weather, leaving no mark. This is the stretch where the scattered nature of the project becomes a problem. Four solo records playing side by side means four different moods, and not all of them are equally compelling.

Then comes the track that saves the middle section. “Look Through the Eyes of Your Heart,” sung by Molina, comes closest to classic Crazy Horse of anything on the record. It has a savage guitar solo, the kind that cuts through the haze and reminds you why this group matters. It is the moment where the album stops drifting and starts driving.

The Hunter and Go With Me Close the Middle

“The Hunter” follows with a slower, darker feel. It takes its time, building on a riff that feels older than the hills. It is not a highlight, but it has a weight that the middle tracks lacked. “Go With Me” is lighter, almost a lullaby, and it does not leave much of an impression. The record closes with “Just for You,” a warm, unassuming track that feels like a handshake at the door. It is not a grand finale. It is simply the last song.

A Record of Individual Moments

The album is scattered and occasionally unfocused, a trait that has marked recent Young and Crazy Horse records. The best songs arrive as individual moments rather than as a satisfying whole. That is exactly what happens here. “You Will Never Know” and “Look Through the Eyes of Your Heart” are strong enough to carry a playlist. The rest of the record is a supporting cast that never quite becomes a chorus.

That is not a fatal flaw. These are four men who have played together for decades, and they are not trying to recreate their youth. They are making music at their own pace, on their own terms. That has value.

The Score

All Roads Lead Home is a loose, generous record that rewards selective listening. It is not an album you put on and let wash over you from start to finish. It is an album you dip into for the moments that matter. The title promises a journey home, but the record itself is more like a series of postcards from different stops along the way. Some are worth keeping. Some you read once and set aside.

The whole is less than the sum of its parts. But the parts are often very good.

Hard Numbers

• Album: All Roads Lead Home
• Artists: Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot, Nils Lofgren, Neil Young
• Release year: 2023
• Tracks: 10
• Total runtime: 42 minutes
• Longest track: “Song of the Seasons” (7:30)

album review · All Roads Lead Home · Crazy Horse · Neil Young · rock music